July 25, 2007

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle up on rising soyoil prices

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday, helped by high soyoil prices.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soybean contract settled RMB13 higher at RMB3,281 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 81,902 lots from 143,654 lots Tuesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Sluggish demand from the feedmeal sector forced many processing plants to reduce their production, constraining the supply of soyoil.

 

"The dwindling soyoil stocks helped to support soyoil and soybean prices," said Lu Xin, a trader at COFCO Futures Co.

 

China's soyoil imports have been increasing in recent months in response to the lower domestic supply.

 

It imported 1.13 million tonnes of soyoil in the first half of this year, up 48% from a year earlier, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly lower and soyoil futures settled higher.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB1 lower at RMB2,559/tonne, and the most heavily traded January 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB64 higher at RMB8,104/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled lower. The benchmark January 2008 contract was RMB15 lower at RMB1,481/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 518,810 lots from 518,508 lots Tuesday.